Kindly note, the storm track of Hurricane Betsey (click here). And the narrative describing this storm is interesting as well.
Hurricane Betsy (September 1965) (click here)
Betsy developed east of the Windward Islands in late August 1965. It tracked toward the Carolina coast as it developed into a tropical storm. When roughly 350 miles off of the Florida coast, the storm turned sharply to the southwest and passed over the Bahamas.
On September 7, Betsy moved toward the Florida Keys as it intensified into a category 3 hurricane. It made landfall at Key Largo and headed west into the Gulf of Mexico, strengthening to a strong category 4 storm. Betsy made her second landfall on September 9 over Grand Isle, Louisiana, at just 1 mph below category 5 strength.
The hurricane moved up the Mississippi River, causing the river to rise ten feet at New Orleans. A storm surge moved into Lake Pontchartrain and overtopped and breeched levees, flooding much of the city, including the 9th Ward. More than 160,000 homes were flooded along the Mississippi and Betsy became the first storm in United States history to exceed $1 billion in damages.
The question is, when will the wetlands be replenished to INSURE the well being of New Orleans. I would think with the revitalization of the city over the past three years there would be MORE interest in returning the wetlands than ever before.
But.
Hey.
What do I know, I'm only the taxpayer with the big bills.
Wetlands erosion raises hurricane risks (click here)
Natural storm 'speed bump' around New Orleans now missing
By Bob Sullivan
Technology correspondent
MSNBC
updated 9:17 p.m. ET, Mon., Aug. 29, 2005
The very technology that protects New Orleans from flooding has backfired, environmental experts say.
They say the levees that ring the city have led to the rapid decay of nearby wetlands during the past century, removing a crucial buffer zone that once protected the area from hurricanes....
Hurricane Betsy, 1965
Following a path similar to Katrina's, Hurricane Betsy gathered strength in the Gulf of Mexico before it struck 50 miles east of New Orleans on Sept. 10, 1965. The storm surge overwhelmed Lake Ponchartrain, pushing water over its levee system. Much of the Crescent City was flooded by several feet of water. Betsy was blamed for 75 deaths and became the country's first hurricane to surpass $1 billion in damages.
Congress responded to the disaster by authorizing the construction of a 16-foot ring of levees around New Orleans. But the levees were constructed to only withstand a Category 3 hurricane, a decision that may have contributed to the flooding when Katrina struck New Orleans 40 years later.
Hurricane Betsey, Cat 3, 1965 (click here)
Hurricane Betsy was a powerful hurricane of the 1965 Atlantic hurricane season which caused enormous damage in the Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana. Betsy made its most intense landfall near the mouth of the Mississippi River, causing significant flooding of the waters of Lake Pontchartrain into New Orleans; at the time it was the costliest hurricane in the history of the United States, and, as the first hurricane to cause over a billion dollars in damage (1965 dollars), earned the nickname "Billion-Dollar Betsy".
